Apple's iPad Reaches Out, Will Go on Sale in 21 Countries

Apple said today that its third-generation iPad, released in the U.S. and nine other countries March 16, will start being sold in an additional countries 21 countries this month.

Image via CrunchBase

Consumers in South Korea, Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malaysia, Panama, St Maarten, Uruguay and Venezuela can buy the tablet starting on April 20. Users in India, Israel, Colombia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, South Africa and Thailand will have to wait until April 27.

Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the new touchscreen tablet, which adds a faster processor, high-resolution display and support for high-speed wireless networks, on March 7, saying it will usher in the “post-PC era” as more consumers opt for a portable mobile device for viewing content, surfing the web and checking their email. Apple said more than 3 million were sold in the weekend after it was released. The company offers six models, starting at $499.
Sales of the iPad, which accounts for about 20 percent of Apple’s sales, are expected to help drive a 47-percent jump in sales in the quarter ended in March, to about $36.3 billion (though some analysts are predicting sales as high as $41 billion.)
Apple probably  sold between 12 to 13 million iPads in March (or as many as 812,500 a day if you think most sales were the new iPad). But the number does include demand for the year-old iPad 2. Apple cut the price of the older model by $100 — giving it a starting price of $399 — to win over cost-conscious buyers.
As for the iPhone, Apple may have sold as many as 33 million. The iPhone, which now represents more than half of sales, got a boost from new buyers in China following a distribution deal for the iPhone 4s with China Telecom in early March.
Apple will announce  fiscal second quarter results on April 24, and everyone will be listening out for clues as to when the next iPhone — the iPhone 5 — will be released. Gene Munster, of Piper Jaffray, thinks it will be sometime this summer. But he says it almost doesn’t make a difference, as customers in the market for a new smartphone will likely wait for Apple’s new model instead of buying a rival phone.
“The reality is the “when” question doesn’t matter for shares of Apple as we believe consumer demand for the iPhone is captive,” Munster wrote in a report last week.”Buyers are unlikely to go out to buy a different phone if launch is not until October.”
After touching $644 last week, Apple’s shares were trading down today at $584.98 at 2:08 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq.

Source:Forbes.com